We had an OUT OF THIS WORLD experience this morning as we watched our experiment launch on the SR-5 sounding rocket out of NASA Wallops this morning! It was early (the rocket took off at 5:30 AM) but NASA Wallops Visitor Center was full of activity and excitement! ​

Ashford students arrived at 4:45 AM to get seats and waited eagerly for the launch to begin:

Ashford students eagerly await launch.

We got the opportunity to watch a couple of test rocket launches as the sun rose, and then came the countdown for the big show! You could hear lots of cheers, and everyone was so excited to see the rocket go up!

We are looking forward to learning more about the results of our experiment in the next few weeks! What a fantastic learning opportunity for us all- thanks again to Amber, Richard, and everyone on the iDoodle/Cubes in Space Team for making it all happen!

Richard, CEO of iDoodle, helps Ashford students make rockets at the Cubes in Space picnic.

Amber, President of Cubes in Space, poses for a picture with Ms. Imhoff and Mrs. Craven.

Today, Ashford students got the chance to visit NASA Wallops in Virginia and present their experiments to other students, teachers, and NASA scientists as part of the Cubes in Space program. You can learn more about Cubes in Space here: http://www.cubesinspace.com/

We got to the Wallops Visitor Center bright and early Tuesday morning! Our students paused for a couple quick group shots with their presentations:

We got a chance to hear a brief overview of the day, and then students headed out to their exhibitions where they got to share their experiments with the scientific community. There were several scientists and engineers in attendance, including the Director of NASA Wallops!

Above: Ashford students present the Astronaut Bandage experiment.

All of the student groups we saw did an unbelievably fantastic job explaining their experiments and sharing what they learned with the world. We saw experiments that ranged from how honeybees would survive in a suborbital flight, to what art might be created sending crayons on a suborbital flight, to how near space conditions affected cocoa beans. In attendance were students from all over the world, including Canada, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, and the United States!

Richard Sowah, CEO of iDoodle, helped us play a video that explains our cube experiment. Owen and Amber both did an excellent job:

Then it was time to head back for some rest before launch day. As long as conditions remain favorable, our Cube will be launching around 5:30 on Thursday morning. It will be live-streamed here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-tv-wallops

We cannot thank everyone Ashford School enough for being supportive of our Cube experiments and our student presentations! We are also profoundly grateful to Cubes in Space and everyone at iDoodle learning for sponsoring such an amazing opportunity for our students. This past year has been the experience of a lifetime for our students (and us too!). I think we have a whole new generation of scientists, engineers, and astronauts headed out into the world! Look out NASA: here comes the Mars Generation!